The present disclosure relates in general to communicating data between electronic devices and in particular to message-based identification of one device to another.
Portable electronic devices, such as smart phones, tablet computers, media players, and the like, have become ubiquitous. Various accessories have been created to interoperate with portable electronic devices to extend their functionality and/or enhance the user experience. Examples of accessories include chargers, speaker docks, in-vehicle docks that provide options for controlling the portable device using the vehicle's console, workout equipment, health monitoring accessories (e.g., heart rate, blood pressure or glucose meters), and so on. Accessories can be designed to interoperate with multiple portable electronic devices that may differ in their form factor and capabilities (e.g., processing power; firmware version; battery life, presence or absence of cameras, microphones, or other components).
To provide a reliably pleasant experience for a user operating a portable device in conjunction with an accessory, it can be desirable to verify that the accessory will operate correctly with a particular portable device. However, the sheer variety of possible accessories, as well the number of different portable devices to which a particular accessory can be connected, makes such verification difficult.